I'm simply astonished by this video. Around the same time when it was posted here, I was just discovering the same things on my own and going to develop what I now call "THE MIRROR METHOD FOR KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS." What is truly amazing is that this guy is talking about the exact point that I make in the introduction - from the fact that symmetry is a universal element of nature to whether these two symmetries have knowingly been integrated by the piano manufacturers. What a tremendous coincidence, what a great guy.
Spirits like Chick never die. This is just like he's alive. Always will be for me. I might be late to the party to comment here, but time doesn't really count with legends. Thank you Chick.
That 5 even notes with comfort position of both hands and its variations were included in a method of exercise loooong ago by F.Chopin (Also including holding all notes silently ,while lifting up the needed ones) , commonly known as "birdie" method by classical pianists and their pupils.
Jeffrey Harris, same here and for about as long as you! LOL, I had never paid attention to the symmetry of the keys, but now I can't look at the keyboard without noticing it. ^..^~~
The mirror image concept is based upon the concept of the TRITONE interval. D to Ab is a TRITONE as Ab to D is yet a reverse TRITONE. What this means is that Ab is the FLAT 5th of D and D is the FLAT 5th of Ab. Similarly C to F# is a flat 5th and F# to C is it's reverse flat 5th interval; It works with each and every single Root note or Tonic of every key and scale. G to Db and Db to G; A to Eb and Eb to A; E to Bb and Bb to E; B to F and F to B . I just covered all of the TRITONES in all keys in this brief explanation. So, if you have a "mirror image" with D and Ab then, you also have identical mirror images with all of these FLAT 5th intervals listed. Basically, they are just notes found in and contained within the diminished scales. For example,...C diminished is: [C, Eb, Gb, and A]. There are 2 sets of TRITONES in this and in every diminished chord. Here, they are C to Gb/F# and A to Eb/D#. Both of these are reversible such as: F# to C and Eb to A. Thus, you can EXPAND your perceptions of what you can do with this information that Chick has presented but ,now, with the knowledge that what he is really talking about is the "distance" from D to Ab being a FLAT 5th and the distance from Ab to D being, similarly,...a FLAT 5th. Many of the so-called advanced secrets in music can be found in the diminished chords, minor 7th b5th chords, Dominant 7ths and all of the alterations of these chords as, they are all very closely related and can be turned into new chords with the simple movement of just one note being moved either up or down in the chord.. Few people take the time to understand that, to fully comprehend what is going on with notes and chords is all based on a deeper awareness and perception of a thing called "THE ALPHA-NUMERICAL SYSTEM" It's NOT "Rocket Science" folks. It just means that all alphabetical scale notes are NUMBERED and further, all CHROMATIC notes in every key are numbered. They are given a number so you can easily associate the numbers with the letters of the notes in every key. It's called "organizing music" in such a way that it becomes easier to understand. It is the single most important part of learning music that goes unlearned and never confronted by either students or teachers. Why....because many teachers are teaching without this knowledge and all students have not gone to music school where they have been able to acquire this knowledge from a seasoned and intelligent teacher.
Great! I've used these five-finger mirror-image drills for decades and find them really efficient for building and maintaining dexterity, strength and independence in all five fingers--and especially for strengthening the fourth finger. A friend who had studied at Julliard in the late 1960's initially showed them to me--at that time, they were used heavily there (maybe still are, for all I know). (If interested, see my earlier comment for more details on specific drills.)
Merci for this. I bought a record years ago of the North Texas State 1 O'Clock Jazz Lab band. There was a certain Lyle Mays that played on it and Chick Corea came in and played on one track and I think he wrote a song for them.
Is this really Chick Corea's You Tube channel? If it is, all I can say is thank you very much for your contribution to Jazz. You, Herbie (not the VW Beetle :-)), McCoy, Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, Andrew Hill and Horace Silver are my all time favourite jazz pianists. I will practise this dexterity exercise daily, as I do have a strength problem with the 3rd/4th /5th fingers of my left hand. Any additional exercises to strengthen those particular fingers would also be great. It's not very often that I have a conversation with a jazz icon, so please excuse any gushing, on my part :-). I wish you salubrious health and sincerely thank you, as you guys are the musical inspiration to millions of aspiring jazz pianists around the world. Back to Earth now, as I've just been in Jazz heaven :-)
DJ Vibe Hello, DJ, This should bring you back to Earth--unsolicited advice from an unknown stranger . . . :) I noticed you talked about "strength problems with the 3rd/4th/5th fingers . . . " As you probably know, among the most difficult problems in playing the piano (or any percussive keyboard instrument) is the notorious weakness and lack of independence in the 4th finger--it's much weaker than any other finger and far less independent. The idea in bringing its level of strength and independence up closer to the other four is to allow the pianist to play with controlled, relative strength throughout--a sort of "a chain is only as strong as its weakest link" thing. It's generally more important to be able to play evenly and with controlled relative dynamic force overall--this, again, makes the maximum overall level available (especially of dynamics) determined by the weakest of the fingers--the 4th. Independence is interrelated here too--how flexible and independent the fourth finger is determines how high this finger can be raised above the key (with some or all other fingers variously disposed, simultaneously striking keys, holding depressed keys, or free, at the same time) before striking it--the higher you can raise that 4th finger above the key, the more force you can bring to striking the key and hence, the louder you can play that note. It all has to do with the physiology of the hand, which is above my pay-grade, but it's the 4th finger that is by far the weakest and least independent and flexible. And the concern is more with developing something closer to equal strength and independence among all five fingers than with just "bulking up" the 4th, as you might do with your pectoral muscles . . . :) I'm guessing your problems with fingers 3 and 5 have mostly to do with independence and flexibility--not so much with strength. The exercises Chick Corea shows and talks about, and those mentioned by other commenters here, deal with all these problems in all fingers--so here it is--one stop shopping! (Hope this helps a bit)
Roland Jesperson :-) Thank you for sharing your helpful tips. Hopefully I'll get there eventually, if I work hard enough at the exercises. :-) All the best to you.
DJ Vibe You will definitely get there, DJ, don't worry about it--the 4th finger has plagued pianists since the darned thing was invented, and nobody gets to the point of being completely satisfied. During the mid and late Nineteenth Century, there were lots of "miracle cures" being touted around Europe for specifically this problem. Robert Schumann fell for one of them--some kind of mechanical contraption worn around the hand while practicing--unfortunately, using it irrevocably ruined his hands, so that after that, he could no longer perform at all--sad, but at least he had more time to compose . . . :) Try to remember that working on and with the 4th finger is a life-long process, BUT you only have to develop it just So much in order to be able to play really, really well. It's hard at first and seems like slow going, but, after the initial period of slow growth, you hit a period of much more rapid and less-difficult practicing and improvement. Also, as this problem is so ubiquitous, just ordinary practicing, especially practicing your pieces (repertoire), will automatically help to accomplish the same things. Don't fall into the trap of over-doing technique (and technical exercises) at the expense of mastering repertoire. (I know--I fell into that for a while, and the results weren't pretty . . . :) You really shouldn't spend all that much time practicing technique-by-technical exercises only--and Especially don't overdo these particular exercises for and w/r/t the 4th finger--you can do more harm than good by overdoing that, similar to an athlete isolating a particular motion and related set of muscles and doing that over and over far too much--it ain't good for ya . . . (If you have a teacher, or even someone you know well who is a pianist, you might want to get some advice on this--I'm a bit concerned that you don't focus too much on this . . .) Thanks for your kind response, by the way, and good luck!
Roland Jesperson Thank you Roland for your detailed reply. I will heed your advice, in regard to 'over-doing' the technical exercises. Prefer just playing, whether that be some classical repertoire, jazz, pop, blues, rock n roll, Latin, Boogie Woogie, etc., but have to balance that with specific technical exercises to, develop the weaker aspects of one's playing. It really demands one's full attention to get anywhere near good, but I love the piano and am definitely going to invest the time required to improve. Nowhere near Chick, but enough to be a proficient professional pianist. Good luck in your future musical endeavours.
Roland Jesperson but in scientifically and biological terms of the anatomy of the hand, it's impossible to make your ring finger independent; however, you can still acquire the flexibility (not strength) to be able to use it effectively.
Awesome tips. You can literally mirror image the piano at any particular point. For example, take a G minor, G Bb D, then move your hand up an octave and play the G in reverse, D Bb G, now you've created the split point right in between E & F, so if you were to fold the piano over itself at the E-F split point, the G triad would perfectly match up.
Check out Yuja Wang playing the bumblebee composition by Rimsky K. if you want to see a truly phenomenal pianist. She plays classical music and has performed several jazz transcriptions. She is from another world, not human.
Chick looks like he's doing the "Hands up---Don't Shoot" stance (smile). On the serious side, I used to ask Chick a lot of questions when I was a student and he would give very good answers. For example, I asked him, "How many hours a day do you practice?" and Chick answered, I don't know, I don't count the time........" To me that was so deep! (at the time) Look for his Re-vision.....this book or any book, CD, DVD, album, etc. by Chick! These points that he's giving may sound funny to some but they really help you if you apply them. And, by the way, anyone could tell by how disciplined Chick was/is as a Keyboardist, that he did very many hours per day of practice, PLUS, Chick plays more Musical Instruments than Piano. God bless!
I learned about it through Seymour Fink's video, "Mastering Piano Technique," which can be viewed on RU-vid. He also has a book by the same title, the outline of which the video follows, which goes into some detail on this phenomenon of how the keyboard is symmetrical around both D and Ab/G#. Fink's treatment of this phenomenon is much more detailed than what Chick gives here. I recommend it highly! (Fink is a classical pianist.)
Chick thank you so much for sharing your gifts, talents and knowledge. I'm a huge fan and greatly appreciate your body of work. Bought the Madhatter Album when I was in high school and still one of my all time favorites. Your interpretations and expressions of the themes are outstanding. Much love.
I'm thrilled to have that link below to the pdf since Amazon describes this book as out of print. However, Chick Corea does not benefit financially nor digitally (as in tags/footprint/connections)....I'll work on this and share the benefits of my research. It's really important for us to support the musicians -- the "content creators" ! :)
Something I noticed years ago: when I practise one hand, the other hand learns also. Not to the same degree as the practised hand but there is measurable improvement. I notice this particularly with scales. If I learn a new scale in my R/H, my L/H behaves as if it has practised also.
What you're probably experiencing is the fact that when you learn a scale or phrase, with either or both hands, those intervals and patterns get ingrained into your mind over time. Even if you've only practiced one hand, you already know the pattern and so when playing it with the alternate hand you are free to focus purely on the technical aspect of playing whatever scale or phrase you may be practicing. Of course, practicing both hands together is always ideal because it helps you to keep your focus calm and centered instead of having to focus on one hand or the other because it is less practiced. It accomplishes the mental and physical goals at once, with no need to translate between hands.
An Amazing Artist..........Mirror Image exercises are found in an old book called "Exercises de Tenues" by Isador Philipp & a book that Herbie Hancock uses called "Daily Technical Studies by Oscar Beringer. I find that the Philipp's book work directly into voicings ....
hello Mr.Chick hats off to ur talent. I respect u sir bcaz u have taken lot of pain nd trouble to learn this piano. I appreciate ur talent. But by seeing like this we could not see anything nor learnt anything. It was keeping a candle light in a pot. Anyway goodluck sir.
I have been a fan of Chick Corea since I was 12......Exciting to hear the masters thoughts. I think this is really cool to hear about mirroring .The Idea of developing both of the brain and extend it to your fingers bi-laterly. SIMPLY AMAZING. I DID THIS IN VISUAL ART. BUT IN MUSIC........WOW.
This mirror image, is... like adding a new dimension. Not harmonical, but why everything in music must be harmonical? Thank you, and full respect to your work, Sir.
I like this idea. Keyboard layout is a difficult thing to get new students to completely understand, and this is an interesting alternative to "start in C 5-finger position, then G, then F, etc."
Not sure how helpful this will be to anyone, but here goes: I had a friend who studied piano performance at Julliard in the late 1960s--he showed me a few technical exercises he had been taught there, which, if I remember correctly, included this one, and additional variations on it: The fingers of the right hand go on e-f#-g#-a#-c. (It "fits" the hand.) Similarly, the left hand fingers (beginning with the thumb and going down in pitch) go on c-a#-g#-f#-e. (Thus forming a mirror image--symmetry-- of the hand positions, and with the same distances and stretches for each finger of both hands in relation to the white and black keys.) That's the hand position and the pitches played--these Do Not change. Also, another thing that doesn't change is the symmetry--the hands each do exactly the same thing at the same time. (Meaning, for example, if the first and third fingers of your right hand are depressing their respective piano keys, the first and third fingers of your left hand should also be doing the same.) Many possible variations on this: First, just hold down the first finger while playing the remaining four notes, up and down, with the other four fingers. Then, hold down the second finger and play individually with fingers one, three, four and five. Then hold the third, and so on. A more difficult variation on this is to depress All piano keys with all fingers, then, one finger at a time (but with each hand simultaneously), raise one finger up as high as possible and strike its corresponding key; this shows those new to the piano how and why the fourth finger's lack of strength and independence need to be developed, quickly and dramatically. It was recommended to do eight "reps" with each finger. A more complicated variation involves splitting up each hand into fingers one and two, and fingers three, four and five. Begin by striking with both fingers one and three simultaneously (in both hands); then move to fingers two and four, then to three and five, and back again. You can also do this in reverse; start with five and three, then two and four, then three and one. (This splits the other end of the fingers--five and four.) Confused enough yet? There are a few more variations on all this, but you get the general idea. Finally, that same Julliard student pianist told me that all (?) piano teachers (at that time) at Julliard used the Finger-Exercises Book of Ernst Doknany (spelling?). I got it and used the first part of it, but it's been a long time. I think these exercises were included in that book, but I'm not sure. The exercises in his book are both useful and difficult; my friend suggested that I use the first ten-to-twelve (at my Intermediate technique state); then, after a year or three or four, go on to the others--they get progressively more difficult, like Czerny, but a lot harder. Hope some of this helps.
It's called symmetrical inversion. The Austrian pianist and pedagogue Rudolph Ganz was the first to define it and present it to the public (late 19th, early 20th century), though I'm sure prominent pianists earlier in the century used it.
My teacher was Earl Armil from Davenport, Iowa. He was a student of Silvio Scionti who was a student of Rossomandi. I have a set of technique books by Rossomandi that I got from Earl. I also have a few copies of a technique book by Scionti. The Scionti book has thumb turning exercises based on the symmetry concept. I think all the books are out of print.
I am convinced that practising a passage in mirror image in the other hand aids performance in the original hand. Piano technique is far more to do with the brain than the fingers, oddly enough, so it makes perfect sense to think of it as a brain exercise. Without this approach we would never exercise both hands in quite the same way simply because of the nature of the tonal spectrum. To approach the thumb in the RH is to come down in pitch, to approach the LH thumb is to ascend, each producing (I suspect)a subtly different sensation.
He is a great musician. He forgot to mention that there is already a great keyboard practice book written by Erno Dohnanyi that will give you finger independence an a great technique.
This is so precious.. I don't have words to express my gratitude to Chick Corea. I feel his Music is in me since I was born! Isto é tão precioso.. Não tenho palavras para expressar a minha gratidão a Chick Corea. Sinto que sua Música está dentro de mim desde que nasci! (Lisbon - Portugal)
This is priceless! Thank you so much, Chick! You're a master and it's a treat to see how such an inspiring player goes about the piano. :) I'm definitely going to buy you're book.
The mirror image is in all classical books, for example, Hannon studies. Make up your own exercises that you can use in your playing or else you'll end up sounding like the one your listening too.
This hand position was actually 'discovered' a very long time ago to by Chopin, who prescribed it to his students for similar types of exercises. Chopin thought it to be the most ergonomic position.
Hi chick, as a video producer it is important to look into the lens so that you are talking to us on this side of the screen, otherwise it looks as if you are not talking to us. Best wishes!
Cool video. You can also do this with the octatonic scale. Contrary motion. Thumbs on C and E (or E and C, however you like it). I'm sure there are other symmetrical patterns out there.
I think there's a very sound logic behind this. If one could replicate, in a reflected way and with the left hand, anything the right hand does then it's fair to say the left hand now has the same dexterity as the right hand. Though of course, typical left hand exercises are still necessary, I'd reckon.
Chick. Please speak about your work with Madame Chaloff She introduced us more then fifty years ago at the jazz Workshop. I think slot of us would like your memories of her teaching
